lots of comments about him and Patrick Roy going head to head on the bench this last season. Otherwise he does seem like great value for where we picked considering several of our board favorites were available.... Gotta think we could lift a Nashville D man for one of our forwards given that Preds have 8 players for 6 spots. Ryan Ellis needs a change of scenery to regain his promise and potential. Malone is a salary that the Preds owners could stomach and seems like a good fit.

He's a CHLer, so the club will have a lot more latitude working with Erne than they would if he was an NCAA prospect or trying to preserve NCAA eligibility.

They'll give him his offseason program and show him how to execute it at rookie camp. Ultimately, though, he needs to follow that program and the Lightning can't stand over his shoulder making him execute it. He needs to commit to it and follow through. Basically, needs to grow up in a hurry.

Very pleased with the draft overall. We got 2 NHL players. Not really thrilled to death with the remainder of the draft, as there's no late round gems a la Peca or Richard for you to really hang your hat on, but tonight's first two picks basically set the Lightning up at forward for a generation and they were already set in goal.

I think it's possible that Kristers Gudlevskis was drafted to maybe be the short-term #4 or #5. Not sure what his contract with Riga for next season is, if he has an NA out clause, but he's 20 and has put up some interesting numbers. With Janus still a long-shot and Nagle likely not getting a qualifying offer tomorrow, then Bolts need to sign a depth goalie for AHL/ECHL work.

The Lightning tried to lure Janus back and ultimately I think Bratislava said no. So New G-Unit may be brought in to Syracuse next season, butting him a heartbeat or two from the NHL. I'm sure the hope is that he Bobrovskys on us.